Clovers and How to Grow Them

by Thomas Shaw

But in some localities this crop may be grown so as to break down the lines of old-time rotations, since in some instances it may be successfully grown from year to year for several years without change. Potatoes and sweet corn, for instance, may be thus grown.

Preparing the Soil.—In preparing the seed-bed for crimson clover, the aim should be to secure fineness of pulverization near the surface and moistness in the same. The former is greatly important, because of the aid which it renders in securing the latter at a season when moisture is often lacking in the soil. As it is rather grown on soils deficient in humus than on those plentifully supplied with the same, fineness in the seed-bed is not so important as it is with some classes of prairie soils.

In starting the seed, drought is the chief hindrance to be overcome in the North, owing to the season at which the seed must be sown; hence, the aim should be to begin preparing the seed-bed as long as possible before the sowing of the seed. The preparation called for will be influenced by the kind of soil, the crop last grown upon it and also the weather; hence, the process of preparing the seed-bed will vary. The judgment must determine whether the land should be plowed, or disked and pulverized, or simply harrowed. After potatoes and other garden crops, harrowing may suffice; after certain grain crops on soils not too stiff, disking may suffice; but where much trash is to be buried, plowing would be necessary, and when the ground is at all cloddy, the roller should be freely used. In corn fields the last cultivation will make a suitable seed-bed, and the same is sometimes true in cotton fields.

To grow good crops of crimson clover, it is necessary that there shall be a considerable amount of plant food in the soil that is readily available. Farmyard manure when it can be spared or secured will supply the need. But the results will probably be more satisfactory where the manure has been applied to the previous crop, as, for instance, to potatoes or corn, and for the reason, probably, that in the relatively dry season at which the seed of this plant is sown, the residue of the manure still in the soil is more readily available than freshly applied manure would be. Good crops have been grown on land thus manured, when at the same time seed sown on land under similar conditions and similar in other respects failed to give satisfactory yields.

In a majority of instances farmyard manure cannot be spared for such a use. When it cannot, if necessary, commercial fertilizers may be applied. Those rich in phosphoric acid and potash are usually most needed, but sometimes nitrogen also is necessary. When nitrogen is used, it may be best applied on the growing crop and while it is young. Phosphoric acid and potash may be fitly applied when the land is being prepared, and in a way that will incorporate them with the surface soil. These may be used in the form of wood ashes, bone meal, Thomas' slag, Kainit, sulphate or muriate of potash, South Carolina rock and acid phosphate. Acid phosphate and muriate of potash stand high in favor with some growers when applied in the proportions of 9 and 1 parts and at the rate of, say, 200 pounds more or less per acre.

Sowing.—The date for sowing crimson clover would seem to depend more upon latitude than upon any other influence. North of the Ohio River it should seldom be sown later than September 1st, lest the growth of the plants should not be strong enough to endure the winter weather. Nor should it be sown earlier than July 1st, lest the plants should reach the blooming stage without having made a sufficient growth, an objection which applies to sowing earlier than July 1st in any part of the United States. All things considered, August is the most favorable month for sowing the seed north of the Ohio and Potomac rivers. In the South, sowing at a later period is preferable. In the latitude of Tennessee, September would usually prove more suitable for sowing than an earlier date, and near the Gulf, October. But it may be sown earlier and later in these respective latitudes. It is a good time to sow the seed in much of the South when the autumn rains begin to come, and the same is true of the Puget Sound country.

The seed may be sown by hand, by the aid of hand machines, by some makes of grain drills in the same way as grain is sown, and by others with a grass-seeder attachment. When sown by the latter, the seed should usually be allowed to fall before the grain tubes to aid in securing a covering for it; the covering thus provided should be supplemented by additional harrowing and in some instances rolling. When sown by hand or by hand machines on soils East and South, the roller should in many instances follow and then the harrow, but on cloddy surfaces the harrow should be used first and then the roller. No method of sowing the seed is more satisfactory than that which sows it by grain drills, which can deposit it in the soil as grain is sown, as it is then buried at an even depth. Sowing to a medium depth, say, ½ to 1½ inches, is preferable to either extreme.

Whether it is advisable to sow a nurse crop will depend upon conditions. When the seed is sown early, in hot weather the young plants are helped by more or less of shade. Such shade is usually provided by the other factor or factors of the mixture. But when shade only is wanted from the nurse crop, a thin seeding of buckwheat has been found to answer. Melons and tomatoes have in some instances furnished shade satisfactorily, and in others upright growing varieties of cow peas or soy beans. The less complete the preparation of the seed-bed, the greater also is the necessity for shade. In orchards the shade of the trees is usually ample, and in some instances excessive. The same is true of vigorous corn and cotton crops.

Whether this clover should be sown alone or in mixtures will also depend upon conditions. If the crop is wanted solely for the enrichment of the land, it will usually be better to sow it alone, as crops other than legumes do not bring as much fertility to the land. As a rule, therefore, it should be sown alone in orchards. It should also, usually, be sown alone for soiling crops and for hay, but in some instances for both uses it may be sown with such crops as winter oats or winter vetches. On some soils, however, these will too much crowd the clover plants. On others the reverse will be true. For seed the crop should, of course, always be sown alone.

For pasture, crimson clover is sometimes sown with rape, winter rye, winter oats, the common vetch or the sand vetch. When sown with rape, the date of the sowing should be early. With the other crops named the most suitable date for sowing the clover will usually prove the most suitable also for sowing these.